Season of defamation suits as intolerance fever spreads

The threats to sue and lawsuits involving public figures started with a trickle last year but have in recent months gushed out in full flow — capturing the nation’s attention.

In the past, public figures — be they politicians, religious leaders or government officials — seemed content with “returning fire” in press conferences or meetings whenever they were the target of verbal attacks, but lawyers’ offices and the corridors of justice seem to be favoured venues these days.

The jury is still out on whether or not this is a healthy trend.

Lawyer Mugambi Laibuta considers it a good way to ensure decorum in public utterances.

“People have been making reckless statements. What is happening is good for the country’s jurisprudence. If one feels that his or her personal or professional reputation has been injured then one has a right to go to court,” he says. 

The latest to go to court, after seeking and failing to get an apology, is Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru who has sued Cord leader Raila Odinga for linking her to corruption at the National Youth Service.

OPPORTUNITY SAVOURED

The former Prime Minister’s lawyer, Mr Paul Mwangi, seems to relish the opportunity to use the lawsuit to shed more light on the mysterious loss of Sh791.

Then there is Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua who has taken Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria to court for allegedly claiming in a public rally that she led a team, including him, that procured witnesses to “fix” deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court.

Ms Karua has denied her involvement in such a scheme.  

Ms Karua, through her lawyers, says she has suffered severe embarrassment and her reputation injured by “the falsehoods propagated by Kuria” and the MP should be compelled to cease from issuing any further statements.

It was not the first time the ICC “fixing” was causing tension among high-profile individuals.

Last year, Defence Principal Secretary Mutea Iringo, who has since been suspended over corruption allegations, wrote to Deputy President William Ruto’s ICC lawyers, led by Karim Khan, for dragging his name into allegations of procuring witnesses over the 2008 post-election violence.

“I wish to inform you that I shall be seeking legal advice as to the remedial avenues available to me in view of your team’s continued libelous attacks on my name integrity,” Mr Iringo wrote, referring to the allegations made by Mr Ruto’s lawyers in The Hague court.

NO APOLOGIES
A few months later last October, the Deputy President sued five Cord leaders, namely Senators Johnson Muthama (Machakos), James Orengo (Siaya), Bonny Khalwale (Kakamega), Elizabeth Ongoro (nominated) and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed over allegations purporting that he is among top Jubilee officials who have benefitted from the Sh8 billion land allegedly grabbed in Karen, Nairobi.

Through Kilukumi and Company Advocates, he wrote to the leaders individually, stating that they faced legal action if they did not recant the remarks.

The case was taken to court after the Cord leaders refused to apologise.

According to Mr Mohamed, the outbreak in defamation suits has been as a result of five factors: political conflicts increasingly getting personalised, ethnicisation of political issues, ubiquity of reputation damage because of technology that broadcasts statements instantly and to a large audience, love for trivia and media’s failure to censor and set acceptable limits.

“The golden age when politicians debated on issues based on ideologies is long gone. Because of this, many politicians are turning to trivialities to win crowds or arguments when debating public issues."

"Politicians are increasingly appealing more to people’s emotions than reason. This is where use of profane language against opponents or ethnic groups set in,” he said.

KIDERO SUED
Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko took the cue and sued Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero over claims the latter made linking the flamboyant senator to drug dealing.

But Dr Kidero quickly learnt that defamation suits were no one’s monopoly and in July he instituted charges against Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale for linking him to the financial woes facing Mumias Sugar.

The case which raised political storm with supporters of the two politicians confronting each other outside Milimani Court is still pending in court but together with the Ruto versus Cord leaders’ case, they have opened the floodgate of defamation suits preceded by demands for apology.

In the span of two months since July, Dr Kidero has sued Dr Khalwale, while former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has threatened National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale with a similar defamation suit over claims that he owed the struggling Mumias Sugar Sh40 million.

Mr Duale’s woes have also been compounded by a joint suit threat by Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony and his Bomet counterpart Isaac Ruto at the Kericho High Court.

CHANCE TO APOLOGISE

Mr Duale is alleged to have made utterances to the effect that Prof Chepkwony had been given Sh100 million to campaign against Mr Ruto in the Rift Valley while the Bomet governor allegedly received a downpayment of Sh50 million from opposition leaders for the same reason.

Through their lawyer Peter Wanyama the two governors are demanding Sh20 million from the National Assembly Majority Leader over statements he is said to have made in mid-August while attending a series of fund-raisers in Belgut Constituency in Kericho County.

Meanwhile, the complaint filed with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) seeking to stop political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi from disparaging the Luo community and Law Society of Kenya Secretary Apollo Mboya has resulted into yet another threat for a defamation suit.

The apology from Mr Ngunyi that was accompanied by a goat to Mr Mboya was not taken kindly by Dr Kidero who referred to the LSK CEO as a “stupid boy.”

But on September 15, Mr Mboya wrote a demand letter to Dr Kidero “offering an early opportunity to apologise for your utterances…failure to which be rest assured that I will commence the necessary legal steps to not only recover my legal entitlements…but also to cite you for bring the office of the Governor into disrepute.”

COMMENTING ON GRAFT
For Mr Mohamed, outbreak of defamation suits is both good and bad.

“Some people may find it difficult to know what is public and what is private or personal. For instance, people may genuinely stop commenting on graft if they don’t have full facts, even if the facts are being hidden, or if those involved are known to be litigious,” he said.

This then gags people from public discourse.

On the other hand, he said so long as there are reasonable evidence to believe that one has engaged in malfeasance, “however much they shout their innocence or threaten to sue, some people are still going to raise issues on corruption.”

According to Mr Laibuta, even as public figures rush to sue opponents for alleged defamation, they need to realise that the burden of proof will be on them.